Business owners and developers who are serious about making money on the mobile web need a product to sell and a way to collect payments. Paypal has an entire section in their Paypal Developer Network devoted to answering questions about adding the famous “pay now” button to mobile sites and apps.
There’s also documentation for Paypal mobile, which includes:
Security on the Mobile Web
How Mobile Checkout Works
Customer Activation for Mobile Checkout
Mobile Checkout Processing Flow
Merchant Integration Points
Documentation
If you are viewing this post from a phone or computer that can access youtube, here is a video featuring Osama Bedier of Paypal demonstrating mobile payment integration:
Just in time for Black Friday shopping (the day after Thanksgiving when many stores have sales), the US PIRG presents ToySafety.mobi.
According to the site,
ToySafety.mobi is your mobile source for Toy Safety information and is published each year along with U.S. PIRG’s annual survey of toy safety “Trouble in Toyland.”
ToySafety.mobi gives shoppers and parents advice about choking hazards, noise hazards, and other considerations for selecting toys. There is also a contact form to report an unsafe toy to be added to the database.
The outbound links on the site are helpful, but not all are mobile friendly, such as the official US Government’s recalled toy database.
Trips.mobi, a short, catchy domain name best suited for travel is going up for auction on bido.com (computer/iphone link)bido.com (transcoded for mobile link). It’s a live, online auction starting at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time on July 23, 2009. Prebids are accepted, there is no reserve, and bidding starts at $1 USD. Good luck to the buyers and sellers!
Holiday comparison shopping just got a lot easier thanks to Target.mobi. The American retailer’s mobile site offers a mobile-friendly browsing experience complete with pictures, item descriptions, and user reviews for what appears to be a full store inventory. While it does not provide a shopping cart, visitors can enter their mobile phone numbers to receive a text message for future reference of any items they wish to purchase. The target mobile site also includes a link to weekly store specials (searchable by zip code) and a holiday catalog.
Target’s mobile website is a good lesson for marketers, too. The full site address is http://sites.target.com/site/en/spot/mobile.jsp — quite a lot to type on a mobile phone — and by registering the .mobi name, they are offering a convenience to site visitors who only need to remember the store name (Target) and the mobile domain extension (.mobi).
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some shopping to do…
ToyArk.mobi launched this week with a selection of educational toys for science, early development, music, children’s books, math and counting, and reading. The amazon affiliate site is designed to be simple and features education toys. It was made with the input of a teacher and a mother. The site also features toy recalls.
If you’re in Australia or planning a trip, have a look at au1.mobi. The Australian mobile website directory is organized geographically for Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, West Australia, Northern Territory and ACT. The sites is further broken into cities and towns, so once you have your destination pinpointed, you can select from another menu which offers listings for accommodations, dining, events (“What’s going on”), shopping, transport, attractions and activities. The companion site for New Zealand, NZ1.mobi, was down at the time of this report.
It’s National Small Business Week here in the States and we missed the memo. Thanks to the dotMobi Registry (mobile link to story) (computer link to story) for cluing us in. mobi Enthusiast found a patio furniture store in Delray Beach, Florida, that showcases their wares and yet keeps the graphics file sizes small enough to rate a 5/5 on ready.mobi mobile emulator and testing site. Congratulations to Coastal Gardens for showing small business retailers how it’s done.
In honor of Earth Day, today’s mobi enthusiast blog entry features a site that rates the fuel economy of automobiles available in the United States, greenestcars.mobi.The mobile friendly website rates hybrid cars and has news about hybrid cars, as well as a search feature for where to buy a car with high fuel economy. With gasoline prices rising 35% in a two month period, many Americans are looking for ways to adjust to the sudden jump, and greenestcars.mobi could help them find a way to do that.
Fashion retail powerhouse Nordstrom recently unveiled its mobile website with a heavy emphasis on the BP juniors line and a special appearance by Pete Wentz, a musician with the popular alternative punk band Fallout Boy.
Visitors to the mobile friendly website have instant access to the Nordstrom store locator, fashion updates via SMS, a Nordstrom fashion spotlight, and downloads. Downloads include wallpaper from the BP juniors themed collection, Pete Wentz wallpaper, and photos from Clandestine Industries. Instead of a ringtone, Nordstrom dot mobi visitors can download a barktone from Wentz’ dog Hemingway.
Note to developer: Since Nordstrom.mobi scores a 3 out of 5 on ready.mobi, it could be difficult for some site visitors to see the site on their phones. We can help you fix that if you like.
It doesn’t get any more local than this. Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, USA, has it’s own version of the phone number list on the refrigerator, but with a technological twist: these phone numbers can be clicked to dial the business listed when the site is viewed on a BlackBerry, iPhone or mobile phone. 07417.mobi allows local residents to dial up the mobile website and find the phone numbers for local restaurants and shops without incurring costly directory assistance charges. All they have to do is remember their zip code.
Plans are underway to invite local businesses to have their own mobi sites linked to the zip code site (for a fee, of course) to show directions, hours of operation, menus, product guides, and weekly specials, all from the convenience of remembering those five numbers, and of course “.mobi.” Good luck with the project, and we look forward to seeing your directory grow.
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